Different Counties, Very Different Schools

In my Public Purposes of Education class, this week, we took a look at something called NCLB (or No Child Left Behind) Report. The state of New Jersey, I don’t know if other states do this as well, makes it available for people to view information on the different public schools in the state. The reports contain information regarding demographic data, graduation rates, and weather or not the school is making annual yearly progress, or AYP. When looking at schools within the same county, the reports seem to look somewhat alike. But when you compare schools from two different districts, especially when the difference comes down to income and other demographic data, then you can see how these different schools are not all performing at the same rate.

For example, a school, without using names, in a school district where the median household income is of approximately $65, 000 a year has a higher performance on tests, a higher graduation rate, and a lower drop-out rate than a school in a district where the median household income is of approximately 26, 000 a year. Considering the fact that schools in the state of New Jersey receive the majority of their income from means other than federal funding, these means being property taxes and so on, the implications are astounding. The schools that are in lower income areas are probably subjected to lower income coming from property taxes, as compare to an area where the homes are valued higher. Adding insult to injury, when these schools fail to make AYP for a certain number of years in a row, which is probably likely for a school that lacks the funds and the support systems to compete at higher levels, then the little funding that they do get from the federal government is cut. This makes absolutely no sense to me.

As a result of these No Child Left Behind policies, these so called “at risk schools”, are forced to spend the majority of their time trying to prepare these students to take these exams, and tutoring them to pass them. This puts an enormous strain, or I should say drain, on other subject areas like History and the Arts. Some schools are forced to make radical schedule changes to accommodate for the teaching of just Reading and Math in preparation for these exams. And, let’s say these “at risk schools” end up losing a part of what little funding they already get. These budget issues affect everything from classroom resources to the improvement, or lack there of, of facilities and the salaries that their districts can afford to pay their teachers.

These situations are always disturbing to look at, especially when we tend to ignore the things that happen in places where we don’t live or frequent, and in schools in which our children don’t or would not attend. And while I don’t have the answers to the same questions I bring up in my own mind about this issue, it seems as if not even the “super smart” people in our government know them either. I think that if they did, our educational system would not be in the level of deterioration in which it finds itself right now, or in the least, be somewhat better.


1. The information regarding NCLB Reports can be available through the US Census Bureau: http://quickfacts.census.gov, key word NCLB Report cards.